Autobiographical Theory - Old School ( Tobias Wolf )

Summary:

The narrator of the story, Wolff’s stand-in, is intimidated by the class snobbery at his school, particularly the hint of anti-Semitism that he senses. (The narrator’s father, like Wolff’s, is Jewish.) He struggles with most of the academic material at school, but finds his niche in English classes and on the staff of the literary magazine. He becomes caught up in a school tradition—the chance to have a one-on-one meeting with a famous visiting writer. These writers include Robert Frost, Ayn Rand, and Ernest Hemingway, said to be a friend of the school’s dean. When the time comes to compete for the Hemingway prize, he struggles to produce a worthy submission. In the end, he plagiarizes a story from another school’s literary magazine, changing only a few details. In the story, “School Dance,” a prep-school girl hides her Jewish identity in order to attend a country club party. The narrator’s version of the story (with the protagonist changed to a boy) is initially praised by everyone at school, but before long his deception is uncovered, and he is expelled the same day. His acceptance to Columbia University is withdrawn, and he drifts for a few years before enlisting in the army.

The last section of Old School tells the story of Dean Makepeace, who left his post for a year at the time of the planned Hemingway visit. It turned out that the dean had never, in fact, known Hemingway, but he had allowed this misconception to circulate on campus for many years. When he finds out not only that Hemingway will visit campus, but also that a student is going to be expelled for dishonesty, he impulsively resigns from his position.

My analysis:

The novel is a very good example of the theory Autobiography because it is about the search for individual authenticity. The life of the main character was described in a way that it is related to Tobias Wolf's. Although Wolff calls Old School a novel, its plot follows the event of his own life starting from the enrollment at prep school up to his struggle to be a personality in the world of literature. The novel's emphasis is on the fluid process of identity creation. 

Structuralism - Play Song ( Peter Kumalo )

Let’s go to the hillside today

   To play, to play, to play.

Up to the hill where the daisies grow

   Like snow, like snow, like snow.

There shall we make a daisy chain

One tomorrow and tomorrow again.

There where the daisies grow like snow

There’s where we will go.

Let’s go to the hillside today

   To play, to play, to play.

Down to the bay where the children swim

   Like fish, like fish, like fish

Down to the bay where the children swim,

Down to the bay where the white yacht skim,

Or up to the hill where the daisies grow,

There’s where we will go.

Analysis:

This poem  involves the use of rhyming words. Each stanza is made up of eight lines. In each of the stanzas, the lines are paired; line 1 and line 2, line 3 and line 4, line 5 and line 6, line 7 and line 8. the lines 1, 3, 5 and 7 are made up of 8 syllables while the lines 2,4, 6 and 8 are made up of 6 syllables. This poem is also an example of a poem with much euphony. It is the use of pleasant, harmonious-sounding combination of words. Poems are meant to be read for full enjoyment . Therefore, sounds should be pleasing to the ear, the sound should be musical.

Territorialism - Only the Strong ( Sheldon Lettich )

Summary:

Former Green Beret Louis Stevens (Mark Dacascos) returns to his hometown of Miami after completing military service in Brazil, only to learn that his old high school has become a haven for gangs and drug dealers. After Stevens uses his Capoeira skills to kick several drug dealers off the school property, Mr. Kerrigan (Geoffrey Lewis), one of Stevens' old teachers, sees the impact that Stevens has on the students. Kerrigan gives him the task of teaching Capoeira to a handful of the worst at-risk students at the school, giving Stevens an abandoned fire station as their dojo. While doing so, Stevens earns the ire of the local drug lord, Silverio (Paco Christian Prieto), whose younger cousin, Orlando (Richard Coca), is one of Stevens' students. Silverio is also a master of Capoeira, and he engages Stevens in combat, beating him viciously. The horrified Orlando resolves to learn everything he can from Stevens. Stevens' class learns quickly, and they become very skilled at Capoeira. The principal, delighted, proposes a district-wide Capoeira program to the school board. After a field trip with his class, Stevens once again crosses swords with Silverio, who declares war against him.

Silverio's gang terrorizes the high school and sets fire to Kerrigan's classroom, resulting in the death of one of Stevens' students. As a result of this incident, Stevens is banished from the school grounds and the Capoeira program is terminated. In retaliation to the attack, Stevens sneaks into Silverio's chop shop and defeats the workers before setting a cash-filled car on fire. Furious, Silverio orders the gang to bring Stevens to him alive. Orlando flees to get help. After a desperate battle, Stevens is finally captured and brought to a bonfire, where Silverio awaits. However, Stevens' Capoeira students bar their path in an attempt to rescue their teacher. Before a brawl can ensue, the exhausted Stevens challenges Silverio to a single combat to win back his students. Despite a grueling battle, Stevens defeats Silverio before the police arrive, sending the gang scattering in all directions. With this defeat, Silverio's reputation as crime lord is gone.

Stevens' Capoeira program proves to be a success that his students graduate from high school. To celebrate, they join a Brazilian Capoeira team to perform for Stevens at the graduation ceremony.

Analysis:

This film possesses the evidences of territorialism. The protagonist, Louis Steven, wanted to save the students in his former high school from drugs and violence. He teaches them a kind of martial art to shift their interests from drugs. The students adored him but the drug lord, Silverio, won't let him get along with it. Silverio is also good in a different type of martial arts. They fought to win the interests of the students and to prove who is stronger and who's martial art is greater. The title itself is an evident of territorialism.

American Pragmatism - The Bench ( Richard Rive )

Summary:


The story starts with an exert from a speech that is held in Cape Town, South Africa. It is clearly part of a demonstration against the apartheid system. A large black man with a rolling voice says," It is up to everyone of us to challenge the right of any law which willfully condemns any person to an inferior position."
The lecture is held outdoors, most of the crowd being coloured. The main character in the story, Karlie, a black man, follows every word the speaker says. He doesn't quite understand the full meaning of them, but realises that they are true words. The speaker tells Karlie that he has certain rights. The picture of himself living like a white man frightens him, but at the same time fascinates him. All he has ever been taught is that God made the white man white, the coloured man brown and the black man black and that they must know their place.
The people on the platform behave as if there were no difference in colour. It makes sense, but still only in a vague way. All the time Karlie is comparing what is happening on the platform to his own situation back home. There, people of different colour could never offer each other a cigarette as a white woman does to a black man, up on the stage. The idea makes him laugh, getting him noticed by a couple of people. This shows that Karlie is not completely comfortable or at ease with all this new information. His upbringing is strongly embedded in him. Playing with the thought of being as good as any other man he remembers black opposers of apartheid going to prison, smiling. It confuses him. As a white woman speaker says, " One must challenge all discriminatory laws," Karlie grows more confident, fear and passivity are replaced with determination to act for equality.A white woman jeopardising all her advantages to say what she believes in. Never had he seen anything like this in his home town. A determination starts creeping over his vagueness. Now he wants to challenge, whatever the consequences. He wants to be in the newspaper smiling. This is a turning point in his life.
After the meeting, on the way to the station, Karlie is on the receiving end of a nasty, racialist comment from an approaching car. " Karlie stared dazed, momentarily too stunned to speak." By reacting at all, it shows that he now questions this kind of treatment. To " challenge" like the white woman speaker said, he sits on a "whites only" bench at the railway station. Although this story spans over a limited time, Karlie has gone through an extreme change in his life. He is now determined to fight for his own freedom as a human being. He rebels against his former upbringing imprinted in him and wants to find a new place in society for himself.
This short story was written during the apartheid system. The bench at the railway station symbolises South African society at that time. Karlie refuses to move from the " whites only " bench and is therefore pulled away by the police. Under apartheid even mixed marriages were not allowed. Schools, restaurants and hotels were segregated. " Bantu education" was enforced for black people in South Africa in 1953. The blacks were taught that they were less intelligent than other races. Karlie`s initial confusion while listening to the speech, can be linked to this form of brain washing. Many were opposed to this oppressive system. Karlie is of course alone in disobeying the police, but he represents all the black opponents of apartheid and racial discrimination. " Karlie turned to resist, to cling to the bench, to his bench." Karlie is not only holding on to a bench, but also to his own existence as an equal citizen of South Africa. " It was senseless fighting any longer. Now it was his turn to smile." Although Karlie looses his grip, he is not defeated. He smiles as he`s taken away. Karlie wins the battle with himself and is proud of showing his victory. 

Analysis:

The very basic question of American Pragmatism is that "if I take this action, will it be more useful than that action?". That factor is a great evident to study this short story under the theory of American Pragmatism. Aside from the fact that this short story involves the white and black men of America, the action that karlie did to sit on a bench reserved only for white men is the action that answers the question of American Pragmatism. He stepped up to exercise his right as a citizen in their country and it made a change!

Post- Colonialism - Bagong Buwan ( Directed by: Marilou Diaz-Abaya )

Summary:

Ahmad (Cesar Montano) belongs to the Bangsamoro people. While many of his kind are bent on fighting, thinking that Mindanao is only for the Muslims, Ahmad prefers to live a simple and peaceful life. He works as a doctor in Manila while his wife, Fatima (Amy Austria), and his only son, Ibrahim, stay in Mindanao with his mother, Farida (Caridad Sanchez). Ahmad is shocked and devastated when Fatima breaks the confounding news. Ibrahim was killed by a stray bullet when vigilantes indiscriminately fire at their village. Ahmad goes back to where he came from --- Mindanao.

Ibrahim’s death did not cause Ahmad to stop striving to live a peaceful life, much to the consternation of his brother, Musa (Noni Buencamino). His brother takes an exactly opposite stand. Musa believes in waging a war against all the Kaafir (unbelievers) who may impede the Moro’s goal of independence. He even trains his young son, Rashid (Carlo Aquino) to a Muslim warrior’s life.

Ahmad wishes to bring his family to Manila in order to escape the conflict in Mindanao but convinces no one, even his mother. Farida is apparently used to a life of constantly running away from crossfire. His wife, Fatima, wishes to stay where the memory of his son remains. Ahmad is now challenged to continue his life’s vocation as a healer in his war-torn homeland.

One day, the MILF headed by Musa, together with Rashid, bombed a police station near a public marketplace. Francis (Jiro Manio), a young Catholic boy, is separated from his parents during the confusion and follows Rashid. Rashid grudgingly takes Francis with him and introduces him to his co-villagers. Francis goes wherever Ahmad and his people go. Francis and Rashid, at their very young age, are the personification of the rival Christian and Muslim who find themselves prejudiced against each other because of ignorance.

Ahmad’s group flees the war by evacuating their village and looking from one place or another for a safe haven in the hope of avoiding crossfire and finding a safe place to live in. Ahmad, in his new role as the leader, discovers the pain and suffering that innocent people have gone, and still, go through just because they find themselves in the middle of a war… a war which they did not instigate.

Analysis:

Post-Colonialism was said to examine the effect of imperialistic views in post-colonial societies. This theory is very applicable to the movie "Bagong Buwan". The story is all about the invasion of the Spaniards in Mindanao But the people of Mindanao fought for their rights and ideals. They struggle against the Spaniards to save Mindanao from cruel governance that the Spaniards would bring. The people fought for their liberty. In the end,  they realized that nobody really wins in a war. A just peace is better than a just war.

Deconstruction - Karma ( Khushwant Singh )

Summary:

"Mohan Lal was a middle-aged man who worked in the British Raj. He was ashamed to be an Indian and hence he tried to speak in English or in Anglicized Hindustani and to dress as if a high-ranked British official. He used to fill the crossword puzzles of newspapers, which he did to show his immense knowledge in English. His wife Lachmi was a traditional Indian woman and due to this difference they were not having a sweet married life.
The important event occurred on a journey of Mohan Lal and Lachmi in a train. Mohan Lal made her sit in the general compartment and arranged his seat in first class compartment, which was meant for British. There he saw two British soldiers who tried to abuse him. When the arrogant Mohan Lal tried to oppose, he was thrown out of the train. He could only look through the rails on the moving train."

Analysis:

The story is under deconstruction theory because the ending is different from what the character and the reader expected it to happen. Mohan Lal is a confident and a well-bred Indian man who mastered Oxford accent in his English and he has a lot of stuffs to attract people about his English-cultured everything. He and the reader's thought that everything will come to his way but it ended the way that he was humiliated by his most admired British culture. Who would have thought that he would be be thrown out from the train?

New Criticism - Goodwill To Men - Give Us Your Money ( Pam Ayres )

It was Christmas Eve on a Friday

The shops was full of cheer,

With tinsel in the windows,

And presents twice as dear.

A thousand Father Christmases,

Sat in their little huts,

And folk was buying crackers

And folk was buying nuts.

All up and down the country,

Before the light was snuffed,

Turkeys they get murdered,

And cockerels they got stuffed,

Christmas cakes got marzipanned,

And puddin's they got steamed

Mothers they got desperate

And tired kiddies screamed.

Hundredweight's of Christmas cards,

Went flying through the post,

With first class postage stamps on those,

You had to flatter most.

Within a million kitchens,

Mince pies was being made,

On everyone's radio,

"White Christmas", it was played.

Out in the frozen countryside

Men crept round on their own,

Hacking off the holly,

What other folks had grown,

Mistletoe on willow trees,

Was by a man wrenched clear,

So he could kiss his neighbour's wife,

He'd fancied all the year.

And out upon the hillside,

Where the Christmas trees had stood,

All was completely barren,

But for little stumps of wood,

The little trees that flourished

All the year were there no more,

But in a million houses,

Dropped their needles on the floor.

And out of every cranny, cupboard,

Hiding place and nook,

Little bikes and kiddies' trikes,

Were secretively took,

Yards of wrapping paper,

Was rustled round about,

And bikes were wheeled to bedrooms,

With the pedals sticking out.

Rolled up in Christmas paper

The Action Men were tensed,

All ready for the morning,

When their fighting life commenced,

With tommy guns and daggers,

All clustered round about,

"Peace on Earth - Goodwill to Men"

The figures seemed to shout.

The church was standing empty,

The pub was standing packed,

There came a yell, "Noel, Noel!"

And glasses they got cracked.

From up above the fireplace,

Christmas cards began to fall,

And trodden on the floor, said:

"Merry Christmas, to you all."

Analysis:

The poem simply says that the people really forgot the true spirit of Christmas. Christmas is not just about gift-givings, feasts, and a lot of preparation for good times and reunions. Christmas is all about the birth of Jesus Christ and before we do things to make ourselves happy and satisfied, we should first say a little prayer and greet our Savior a "happy birthday!" 

Reader-Respose - If You Forget Me ( Pablo Neruda)

I want you to know

one thing. 

You know how this is: 

if I look 

at the crystal moon, at the red branch 

of the slow autumn at my window, 

if I touch 

near the fire 

the impalpable ash 

or the wrinkled body of the log, 

everything carries me to you, 

as if everything that exists, 

aromas, light, metals, 

were little boats 

that sail 

toward those isles of yours that wait for me. 

Well, now, 

if little by little you stop loving me 

I shall stop loving you little by little. 

If suddenly 

you forget me 

do not look for me, 

for I shall already have forgotten you. 

If you think it long and mad, 

the wind of banners 

that passes through my life, 

and you decide 

to leave me at the shore 

of the heart where I have roots, 

remember 

that on that day, 

at that hour, 

I shall lift my arms 

and my roots will set off 

to seek another land. 

But 

if each day, 

each hour, 

you feel that you are destined for me 

with implacable sweetness, 

if each day a flower 

climbs up to your lips to seek me, 

ah my love, ah my own, 

in me all that fire is repeated, 

in me nothing is extinguished or forgotten, 

my love feeds on your love, beloved, 

and as long as you live it will be in your arms 

without leaving mine.

Analysis:

Reader-response criticism focuses primarily to the reader's reaction to the text. It depends upon the reader how he or she interpret a certain literary work. For me, this poems can be dedicated to everything you value or love. This poem talks about love and friendship. If someone does not love you, then its time to move on but if they do love you then we should hold on to them forever. That is the same with friends, if one of them is the only one putting effort for the friendship but the other inst doing anything then we should lift our arms and our roots will set off to seek another land. A land in which we are appreciated and loved, and we should hold on to those people forever. 

Romanticism - Childe Harold's Pilgrimage ( Lord Byron )

Summary:

Childe Harold's Pilgrimage is a lengthy narrative poem in four parts written by Lord Byron. It was published between 1812 and 1818 and is dedicated to "Ianthe". The poem describes the travels and reflections of a world-weary young man who, disillusioned with a life of pleasure and revelry, looks for distraction in foreign lands. In a wider sense, it is an expression of the melancholy and disillusionment felt by a generation weary of the wars of the post-Revolutionary and Napoleonic eras. The title comes from the term childe, a medieval title for a young man who was a candidate for knighthood.

n Canto 1, Bryon introduces Childe Harold, a young English nobleman who has been wasting his life with drinking, idleness, and making love to unsuitable women. The woman he does love he cannot have. Despondent, he leaves his family, his family home, his heritage. and his lands to travel, albeit with no clear destination. Perhaps, he thinks, he will find happiness and some meaning to his life once he leaves England.

Leaving, he sings a mournful song—the poem “Good Night”—bidding farewell to his homeland, to his parents, and to his wife and sons. 

Analysis:

There is a spontaneous overflow of powerful feelings in this narrative poem. As we see, the poem is flooded with emotions that the main character felt throughout his journey like, love, longing, grief, sadness, and even pleasure. It is also said in romanticism that te artist's feeling is his own law. In the poem, Childe Harold became a vehicle for Byron's own beliefs and ideas. By masking himself behind a literary artifice, Byron was able to express his view that "man's greatest tragedy is that he can conceive of a perfection which he cannot attain".

Marxism - A Rose for Emily ( William Faulkner )

Summary:

We return to the past, two years after Miss Emily's father's death. There have been complaints about an awful stench emanating from Miss Emily's house. The older generation, which feels that it is improper to tell a lady that she stinks, arranges for a group of men to spread lime on her lawn and inside the cellar door of her house. All the while, she sits at a window, motionless.

Of primary importance in this section is Miss Emily's relationship to her father and her reaction to his death. The town views the father and daughter as a "tableau," in which a sitting Mr. Grierson grasps a horsewhip and affects an oblivious attitude toward his daughter, who, dressed completely in white, stands behind him. This image reinforces the physical relationship and the emotional distance we feel between the two, and it recalls the crayon picture standing before the fireplace. Also, the horsewhip that Mr. Grierson clutches suggests a bridled violence in this most gothic of tales, a violence that will reveal itself by the end of the story.

When her father dies, Miss Emily cannot face the reality of his death and her loneliness. Because she has no one to turn to — "We remembered all the young men her father had driven away . . ." — for three days she insists that her father is not dead. Her clinging to him after his death prepares us for her clinging to Homer Barron after she poisons him, and we feel that her father ultimately has some responsibility for his daughter's killing her lover.

Analysis:

It falls under Marxism theory because this theory is formulated specifically to analyze how society functions in a state of upheaval and constant change. In this story Miss Emily is unable to grip the idea of death and suffers great deals of denial. After the death of her father, the townspeople expected her to be in a state of grief but alas she is not. Instead she proceeds to say that her father is very well with her, alive. In whatever decisions she makes, the town people always has something to say to her. We can also observe in literary works that fall under Marxism the quest for wealth and power. In the story, Th family of Emily has lost their fortunes so her parents once thought of engaging Emily with a rich someone. 

Humanism - The Moor's Last Sigh" ( Salman Rushdie )

Summary:

The Moor of the title is Moraes "Moor" Zogoiby, cursed with a "double-quick" life: his mother, after wishing in a moment of frustration for a child who would grow up quickly, gives birth to him four and a half months after his conception, and he continues to age at twice the normal rate. Moraes's mother, Aurora da Gama, is a famous artist and his father, twenty years older than his mother, is a former clerk in her family's spice business who finds more lucrative employment in smuggling and drug trafficking. Moraes becomes entangled in rivalries between his parents and their competitors, becoming a prisoner of an artist jealous of his mother who allows him to live as long as he writes his life story. Throughout the story Rushdie relates the history of the family as far back as explorer Vasco da Gama, discoverer of India, and draws parallels with the family's circumstances in modern time. The "Moor's last sigh" of the title has a number of explanations, one being that it is the title of a portrait of Moraes, the last his mother painted before her death.

Analysis:

This can be viewed under humanist theory because "Moor", throughout the book, is an exceptional character, whose physical body ages twice as fast as a normal person's does and also has a deformed hand. The book also focuses heavily on the Moor's relationships with the women in his life, including his mother Aurora, who is a famous national artist; his first female tutor; and his first love, a charismatic, demented sculptress named Uma. Moor's aspirations, and all his emotions and attributes as a human was clearly described throughout the story.

Psychoanalytic - The Death of Ivan Illych ( Leo Tolstoy )

Summary:

The novel tells the story of the death, at age 45, of a high-court judge in 19th-century Russia. Living what seems to be a good life, his dreadful relationship with his wife notwithstanding, Ivan Ilyich Golovin injures his side while hanging up curtains in a new apartment intended to reflect his family's superior status in society. Within weeks, he has developed a strange taste in his mouth and a pain that will not go away. Several expensive doctors are consulted, but beyond muttering about blind gut and floating kidneys, they can neither explain nor treat his condition, and it soon becomes clear that Ivan Ilyich is dying.

The second half of the novel records his terror as he battles with the idea of his own death. "I have been here. Now I am going there. Where? ... No, I won't have it!" Oppressed by the length of the process, his wife, daughter, colleagues, and even the physicians, decide in the end not to speak of it, but advise him to stay calm and follow doctors' orders, leaving him to wrestle with how this terrible thing could befall a man who had lived so well.

He spends his last three days screaming. He realizes he is "done for, there was no way back, the end was here, the absolute end ..." One hour before his death, in a moment of clarity, he sees that he has not, after all, lived well, but has lived only for himself. After months of dwelling on his own anguish, he suddenly feels pity for the people he's leaving behind, and hopes his death will set them free. With that thought, his pain disappears. He hears someone say, "He's gone." He whispers to himself, "Death has gone," and draws his last breath.

Analysis:

This novel really fall under psychoanalytic theory. Evidently, this novel is an evident for the analysis of the author's life. for Tolstoy, a sinful life (such as Ivan's) is moral death. Therefore death, the return of the soul to God, is, for Tolstoy, moral life. The Death of Ivan Ilyich, therefore, is more than a story about death. Death permeates the narrative in a realistic and absorbing fashion but, interestingly enough, the actual physicality of death is only passively mentioned in the early chapters during Ivan’s wake. Instead, the story leads the reader through a pensive, metaphysical exploration of the reason for death and what it means true to life. Tolstoy was a man who struggled greatly with self-doubt and spiritual reflection, especially as he grew close to his own death in 1910.

Feminism - Like One of the Families ( Alice Childress )

Summary:

Originally published as a serial in African-American papers in the 1950s this series of monologue-style short stories are all in the voice of Mildred–a daytime maid for white families in New York City.  The monologues are all addressed to her best friend and downstairs neighbor, Marge, who is also a maid.  The stories range from encounters with southern relatives of moderately minded employers to picnics threatened by the Ku Klux Klan to more everyday occurrences such as a dance that went bad and missing your boyfriend.  Mildred’s spitfire personality comes through clearly throughout each entry.

Analysis:

This can be classified under the theory feminism. Mildred and her friend Marge create a vibrant picture of the life of black working woman in New York in 1950's. In here, we gain a glimpse not only of one woman’s day to day struggle, but of her previous ache of racial oppression. A domestic who refuses to exchange dignity for pay, Mildred is an inspiring conversationalist, a dragon slayer in a segregated world. We can see her strengths and weaknesses as a woman.

New Historicism - The Believers ( Zoe Heller )

Summary:

When radical New York lawyer Joel Litvinoff is felled by a stroke, his wife, Audrey, uncovers a secret that forces her to reexamine everything she thought she knew about their forty-year marriage. Joel's children will soon have to come to terms with this discovery themselves, but for the meantime, they are struggling with their own dilemmas and doubts. 

Rosa, a disillusioned revolutionary, has found herself drawn into the world of Orthodox Judaism and is now being pressed to make a commitment to that religion. Karla, a devoted social worker hoping to adopt a child with her husband, is falling in love with the owner of a newspaper stand outside her office. Ne'er-do-well Lenny is living at home, approaching another relapse into heroin addiction. 

In the course of battling their own demons—and one another—the Litvinoff clan is called upon to examine long-held articles of faith that have formed the basis of their lives together and their identities as individuals. In the end, all the family members will have to answer their own questions and decide what—if anything—they still believe in.

Analysis:

Upon reading this book, you will realized the role of history in it. It tells us something about the ideology of Orthodox Judaism that Rosa has been drawn into. As the head of their family got into coma, they are suppose to reveal secrets from the past about their beliefs. They searched for the history of their family. 

Existentialism - A Scanner Darkly ( Philip K. Dick )

Summary:

In the future "seven years from now," America has lost the war on drugs. A highly addictive and debilitating illegal drug called Substance D, made from a small blue flower, has swept across the country. In response, the government develops an invasive, high-tech surveillance system and puts in place a network of informants and undercover agents. While posing as a drug user, Arctor becomes addicted to Substance D, a powerful psychoactive drug which causes a dreamy state of intoxication and bizarre hallucinations; chronic users may develop a split personality, cognitive problems, and severe paranoia. Arctor befriends an attractive young woman named Donna Hawthorne (Ryder), a user of cocaine, Arctor's supplier of Substance D, and part of the drug scene. Arctor hopes to buy so much Substance D from Hawthorne that she is forced to introduce him to her supplier, but Arctor develops romantic feelings for her. However, Hawthorne refuses Arctor's sexual advances and Arctor's housemates question the true nature of their relationship. Barris implies to longtime friend and near-insane Substance D addict Charles Freck (Cochrane) that he has made advances toward Donna only to be refused, and suggests that Freck supply her with cocaine in order to attract her attention away from Arctor and convince her to lower her drug prices.

My Analysis:

The movie can be viewed under the Existentialism theory.  It is Arctor's own choice to be involved with this dangerous new drug. It his choice to use this drug and as a result, his own identity is changed. He can never blame  anyone with what happened to him. he has nervous breakdown because it's his choice to use this dangerous substance in excess. He became what he was because of his own will and choices.